Letters: North County, May 15, 2013

More views on Benghazi hearings

Your editorial “What did the president know, and when did he know it?” (May 12) did a fine job of following the Republican party line on Benghazi. Unfortunately, it also suffers from the fundamental flaws of a political effort that is more “desire in search of evidence,” as columnist Logan Jenkins aptly phrased it (“Typecast as GOP muscle, Issa has hit his political ceiling,” North County Local, May 13) than real inquiry.

“Transformational diplomacy” (to use Secretary Rice’s phrase) is conducted in difficult and dangerous places, and security isn’t the first priority — the mission is. So security will inevitably be, and should be, a second priority — and there will be casualties.

In the aftermath, a review of State Department security decisions may be useful, but the notion that this is somehow a presidential issue is farcical. More critically, it is clear that this so-called investigation is actually damaging national security. As is now clear, the reason the mission in Benghazi was so large was that it was, essentially, a CIA operation, aimed at collecting [information about] surface-to-air about] missiles. This important, covert operation is now publicly “blown,” thereby both making further missions more difficult and imperiling the security of other diplomats.

As a retired Army officer, I am outraged that this so-called investigation is making the difficult tasks of countering terrorism and helping the people of the Middle East build a future more difficult.

Dana P. Eyre

Oceanside

The relentless drumbeat about the Libya consulate attack is sickening. How about the 10 attacks under Bush with 60 deaths and zero Republican outrage! Also, remember that the Republicans withheld $300 million that the Obama administration requested before the attack for additional embassy security. I haven’t heard that one come up in the waste of time and taxpayer money that Rep. Darrell Issa is putting on in Washington. It is so painfully obvious that Issa and his cohorts are deathly afraid of Hillary Clinton in 2016, as they should be. She will bury them in the election. When will the Republicans stop buying the lies and talking points they are being fed?

Scott Bee

Encinitas

In response to “Battles in D.C. about Benghazi not over” (May 12): Since Republicans failed to connect President Obama to any real scandals, and in an effort to undermine the credibility of Hillary Clinton, they have resurrected the eight-month-old attack in Benghazi.

Republicans claim their outrage stems from the fact that four Americans died in the attack. But where was their outrage when the Bush administration lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and nearly 4,500 U.S. servicemen and women died? Where was their outrage when Bush ignored intelligence that the United States was targeted for attack, and 3,000 died from the 9/11 attacks?

According to Darrell Issa, “If you lied to the American people and deceived the (victims) families, you shouldn’t keep your job.” Republicans have shown they are only capable of outrage when a Democratic president is in charge. Their hypocrisy is only exceeded by their fanatical partisanship.

Bunny Landis

Oceanside

Obama fulfilling prophecy

President Obama has done everything I warned you about. He has lied about Benghazi. He has lied about Obamacare. He has set his “dogs” in the Internal Revenue Service to harass conservative political parties.

Four American heroes were killed and he went off on a fundraiser for his election. He cut the armed forces off financially at the knees. He has stopped you from going through the White House to save money while spending billions on projects that have failed. As for the White House tours, maybe he and Michelle don’t want you to see the lavish parties that they throw and the high life they live on your money. By comparison he makes Watergate a nonstarter.

Phil Epstein

Carlsbad

Logan the liberal

I’ve followed Logan Jenkins almost as long as he’s followed Darrell Issa. His criticism of the congressman’s partisanship (“Typecast as GOP muscle, Issa has hit his political ceiling,” North County Local, May 12) is the latest manifestation of his frustrations being a liberal columnist in conservative North County.

There are at least 10 states where a candidate like Rep. Issa could easily win election to the U.S. Senate, but California isn’t one of them. The Jenkins “ceiling” applies to any Republican seeking statewide office: even Marco Rubio couldn’t be elected senator here.

Meanwhile, if Mr. Jenkins doesn’t believe that the administration’s cover-ups rise to the level of Watergate, perhaps he should read The Washington Post’s May 10 editorial calling for an independent investigation of how the IRS targeted the administration’s opponents. The Washington Post knows Nixonian when they see it.